Karlstad, Sweden

The hotel where we've been basing in Oslo is one from another era and carries forward that old world charm into the modern day very nicely and with good grace. However, there are some things that very old hotels commonly have trouble with and ours is no exception.
1) SHOWERS AND THEIR ENCLOSURES. Installed as an afterthought, the shower stall is tiny and the shower itself is a hand held nozzle thing that's up on a bracket while the enclosure is two glass doors both opening out but do not close very well. The result after a 5 minute shower is the floor of the bathroom has become a fjord. It is usually a good indicator when there is a drain in the bathroom floor that things are going to get messy with the shower. Maid? Another dozen towels please.
2) INTERNET SERVICE. They try very hard, it is wireless. To begin with, we were issued a card for each 24 hour periods that we were staying with a user code. In theory, you call up your browser and the hotel internet instructions will come up. Simply follow and agree to everything, the final request is to enter your password and code. I don't know what these people are thinking about, I suppose they are terribly concerned with somebody conjuring up the code and getting free internet service for a day. The codes are something out of a Sherlock Holmes movie or perhaps a secret code to some old Soviet missile secrets. Here's an example of one of the codes: Q353809-QWJ2QB4. C'mon, the days of Emma Peale and the cold war are over. How's this for a code? Last name and room number!
3) GYM. The concept of a gym in the hotel is still fairly progressive and if they have one it usually consists of one, maybe two, treadmills of dubious worth and a few hand held weights. It will be a stretch if they have anything heavier than 10 kgs. And so it is with our hotel. After a number of days of withering away, our very considerate and fit road manager Tim Hook organised a sortie to a great two story gym here in Oslo. Rooms and rooms of everything imaginable not to mention squash and badminton courts, spinning theatres, and a room with hanging punching bags for training. Tim, Glenn and I got there shortly before 11 and stayed for a couple of hours. We all agreed it was a well needed workout. The drawback: comprehensive shite, loud dance music pounding away in every corner of the joint. Does this motivate people? I suppose it does as it made me want to finish and flee quickly as possible.

Back to the room for another refreshing shower and lake experience then off to the Legacy for a 15 minute hop to Karlstad, Sweden. Karlstad is a beautiful city of 60,000 and is built on the river delta where Sweden's longest river runs into Sweden's largest lake. Karlstad is also reputed to be Sweden's sunniest city. Tonight's venue was the Lofbergs Lila Arena and over 5000 good citizens turned out to see us play. They were a listening audience that was very appreciative at the end of each song. We had a wonderfully relaxed show again tonight, everything sounds friendly and effortless. This tour is a real joy.

Back to Oslo and another early night for me, still trying to shake this stomach thing.

So long,

Richard